THE WHITE WATER appears on the right, a hundred yards ahead of our canoe. The Columbia River’s broad, glassy surface breaks into a foamy chop as water boils around a patch of submerged boulders.
I stroke harder, navigating the white water along the Hanford Reach National Monument (fws.gov/hanfordreach), one of the last major free-flowing stretches of the Columbia. Located east of Yakima, the Reach serves as a popular 18-mile paddle route for canoeists and kayakers.
We bring our own boats, though shops such as Columbia Kayak Adventures (columbiakayakadventures.com), in Richland, offer both rentals and tours. The Vernita Bridge, near Mattawa, is the standard put-in spot; 13 boat launch sites downstream offer plenty of takeouts, but trespassing is prohibited on the right bank, where chain-link fences topped with razor wire surround the mothballed reactors of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. It’s still amazing to behold. Now retired, the reactors were once instrumental in the government’s nuclear weapons program. Plutonium produced here was used in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki in World War II.
In the course of our trip we see huge chinook spawning. They’ve run the gauntlet of nets, lures, seals, sea lions, and killer whales. Many have hooks trailing from their jaws, gashes in their sides, but they’ve succeeded in making the journey from the Pacific to spawn in this ideal habitat. They are the survivors.
There are also mule deer, coyotes, bald eagles, great blue herons, and white pelicans to see. A large elk herd hides in the canyons. Spring brings wildflowers. By the time we take out at the White Bluffs boat ramp, we’ve experienced a slice of the old Northwest. —NICK O’CONNELL
Read More About Wine Country
In the Yakima Valley, there's ample opportunity to sip, sample, and celebrate the bounty of the region's fertile farmland.
Don't Miss
Just west of the Tri-Cities—the metro area of towns Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick—Red Mountain rises above sprawling acres of sagebrush.
It's hard to find a prettier wine town than Walla Walla, the center of the Walla Walla American Viticultural Area.
From our Archives
HOW BEST TO ENJOY WINDING BACK ROADS expansive green vineyards, and a scant 12 days of rain per year?
Washingtons Tri-Cities woo wine lovers.
Vino is just one of the wine countrys charms.
Walla Wallas charm has the whole country talking.
IT MAY BE HOME to eight federally recognized American Viticultural Areas and make up 99 percent of the states total vineyard area, but theres more to wine country than just great grapes.
ABOUT TWO HOURS east of Washingtons Cascade mountains, the hills roll into fertile land, covered in sunshine. All that sun is good for Washingtons hugely profitable, immensely popular ag crop: grapes.
THE WHITE WATER appears on the right, a hundred yards ahead of our canoe. The Columbia Rivers broad, glassy surface breaks into a foamy chop as water boils around a patch of submerged boulders...
ITS HARD TO IMAGINE touring the states most famous wine region without partaking in the eclectic dining experiences that also make it special, be it a farm-to-table lunch at a winery or a stop at the local taco truck.
ROLL INTO WALLA WALLA on a good spring day and the first scent to greet you may be the sweet, green smell of peas.
HIGH ON A PLATEAU west of Yakima, surrounded by mountains and fruit orchards, where the wind howls and the sky goes on until it bumps into another mountaintop, a vibrant, fibrous wool tentshot through with lightdangles from a gallery ceiling. Linger inside it, and youll feel as if youve been transported to some fairy world.
The state leads the nation in the productionof spearmint and peppermint oil,concord grapes, carrots, and cherriesthanks, in large part, to Wine Country.West to east, heres what to eat.
Find your way through Wine Country with some interesting Tasting Rooms.
BEYOND THE EDGES of rolling wheat fields, Walla Walla rises out of the landscape.
Down a two-lane road, at the edge of the Hanford Site nuclear reservation, scientists are attempting to exploit Einsteins theory of relativity to detect the next collision of black holes.
Atop a plateau of fruit orchards rolling toward mountain peaks, artists and do-it-yourselfers are laying mosaic tiles, wrapping colorful paper onto piatas, and stretching wool into felt.
Find Out More
Please visit our Tourism Partners
Prosser Chamber of Commerce
800-408-1517
Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau
800-254-5824
Toppenish Chamber of Commerce
(800) 863-6375
Tourism Walla Walla
877-WW-VISIT
Yakima Valley Visitors & Convention Bureau
800-221-0751